


It can go both ways

by nightsisterkaris



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: BAMF Melinda May, F/M, I don't actually ship Sarinda, Parasitic Aliens, Past Relationship(s), Philinda is still my OTP tho, SARINDA HAPPENS, Season/Series 06, sarge - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 04:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19143430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightsisterkaris/pseuds/nightsisterkaris
Summary: May joins Sarge's team, adopts a new name, and finds out that Sarge may not be as evil as he appears.





	It can go both ways

**Author's Note:**

> "A Philinda/Sarinda fic where the altCoulson/Sarge wants May on his team because she makes him feel like he can trust her." It's a fun concept and one that I know will prob not be canon. Also, I have this headcanon of Sarge calling May, "sweetheart" in a 'platonic' way. This is not connected to the other fic, "Let him come". Also, I still love the name 'Quasar' for alt/turned!May.

   Here she was, tied to a chair. Her jacket was slightly unzipped, letting the muggy air of her surroundings slide around her clavicle and sternum. Cord wrapped around her slim frame and her wrists, buckling her to the leather that had her bound.

   Melinda was staring, looking forward at this man before her. Sure, she'd been tied to chairs around Phil before, but under  _very_  different circumstances. (Circumstances that she had only memories of, now reserved only to be revisited on quiet nights alone when the silence was to much.) But this wasn't Phil.

   "I'm going to turn you." He had said. The man had spared her from the creepy girl simply referred to a  _'Snow'_.

   The soft gold light of the dimly lit truck trailer shone around Melinda, and she could see the coulson-imposter sitting on the black leather couch, one leg bent up on the bin that substituted as a coffee table, and his hand still pointing the gun blaster thing at her. His other hand dug aimlessly into a bag of chips as he watched her sleep.

   "Ey, Sarge, ain't nobody followin' us. We're clear!" Snow's sing-song voice called back from the driver's cab.  _Sarge_. Melinda kept hearing that name in reference to this man with Coulson's face. That must be what he's calling himself. Sarge.

   It was kinda a kickbutt name. But that was in the back of her mind right now.

   "What's your name, sweetheart?" Sarge was suddenly staring back.

   --- -:x:- ---

 

   (Sarge's POV)

   "What's your name, sweetheart?" Sarge asked the woman. 

   All he got back was a cold stare from those dark eyes. They reminded him of pools of water, black as night but could they reflect the stars.

   She was undeniably beautiful. Sarge told himself that he captured her purely for strategic reasons. Because Jako was still AWOL and they had lost Tinker. Why not pick up someone who looked nice and fought like a well seasoned soldier along the way?

   Not to mention how her appearance unsettled him, the same way his seemed to unsettle her.

   The woman gave him silence.

   "Well, not much of a talker, are ya?" Sarge shook his head, reaching for another of these Terrien nourishment substitutes called _'potato chips',_  they tasted salty, but were actually quite good. Surely weren't worth any nutritional value though.

   The woman seemed unfazed by her position in the chair as she stared at him.

   "Wanna tell me why you're trying to stop us? Why everyone I meet calls me 'Coulson'?" He asked. The woman's eyes darted up. Good. That got her attention.

   "You don't know by now?" She had a beautiful voice, a voice that Sarge hoped to someday be used to, if she joined his team.

   "No, but it seems to be a name of someone whom I don't know." Sarge said casually as he could, hiding his frustration. 

   "You're not him." The woman said coldly.

   "I think I know that, sweetheart." Sarge said, leaning forward. "Now, what's your name?"

   "You can call me  _'May'._ " She said.

   Sarge froze, blinking. May. That was the name Deke Shaw used in reference to someone who would never leave Coulson's side. "Agent May." Sarge nodded. " _May_."

   "I know my name," the woman snarked.

   "Not if you turn." Sarge says. "You'll get a new name." May gave him silence. Sarge studied her, "You wanna tell me about Coulson?"

   "No."

   "Not cooperating would be a very bad move on your part. I could just. . ." Sarge paused, "Hey, Snow, Come if I call!" He yelled. "And bring your knives too!"

   "No problem!" Snowflake sang back.

   "See? We could just leave you behind to die." Sarge shrugged. "When the parasites infect the entire earth and everything dies, undead slaves to the little beasts." Sarge said. "But I think that you can help us." Sarge paused, "You could stop your friends from trying to kills us."

   "You're the one who's doing all the killing." May snarked back.

   "Stopping us will only make it worse." Sarge said. "The longer the parasites are here, the more people will be infected, and soon they will build a nest."

   "Fat chance."

   "You've never seen a nest, have you? They make their hosts burrow down into the ground until there are millions of bodies, and then they procreate. The last nest we bombed ended bad." Sarge said, "but maybe you can help us around your planet, and put an end to the little beasts before they gather together again and take over."    

   "I'll join." May said.

   "What?" Sarge frowned. "Just like that? I even prepared a speech."

   "On agreement that you stop killing the innocent humans." May bargained.

   "Once the parasite gets into a body, they're a goner." Sarge warned. "There will be sacrifices."

   "I'm used to that." May said.

   "Then we are on agreement then?" Sarge smiled, "First things first, we're getting Pax and Jaco back."

    -:x:-

 

   (May's POV)

   "You have no idea how hard that was." Melinda folded her arms, directing the SHIELD agents to dump the unconscious men onto the floor of the truck trailer. 

   "I still don't know what you think you're doing, May." Mack said from the ground. "This is beyond stupid."

   "Trust me, Mack." Melinda said.

   Sarge grinned from the other end of the trailer.

   "You're passing up the perfect capture opportunity, May." Mack whispered, "I have agents surrounding."

   "Let them off. I can do this." Melinda warned.

   "Stay in touch." Mack said, "I don't like this."

   "Neither do I." Melinda said, backing into the truck trailer and the door closed behind her.

   Sarge stood over the bodies of his teammates, looking down. "Snow, drive us on out of here!" He called to the truck cab. The engines rumbled to life. Melinda stood facing Sarge from the other end of the trailer. Stepping over the bodies that she had bargained so much for with SHIELD, even pulling rank and her years of experience, she was expecting sarge to keep his side of the bargain.

    "We're going after our next target, another infected person." Sarge said, "we should be there in about five hours."

    Melinda simply folded her arms, standing with her legs partly apart at attention, bracing against the sway of the truck. Sarge approached her, "Tell me about Coulson."

    "No."

    "Not communicating is bad for a relationship."

    "We are not in a relationship."

    "To bad, first order, we discuss Coulson."

    "You're not him." May said.

    "Why?"

    "Coulson wouldn't have killed the way you do. He was honest, open even though he had his secrets, and he's dead anyway. I watched him die in my arms." Melinda said. "Now, why do you look the way you do?"

    "I don't know." Sarge shrugged. "But everyone I've met that calls me by his name references you as well. You and this coulson were close?"

    "You have no idea."

    "Oh.  _That_  kind of close." Sarge said. 

    "And the other." Melinda cocked and eyebrow.

    "You miss him?" Sarge guessed. "I understand. We have lost team members too."

    "Coulson was more than just a team member." Melinda said.

    "He was your boyfriend?" Sarge said. "Wow, this must be really fun for you than." He sat down on the couch, "Sit, May, Let's talk," Sarge told her. May slowly eased herself down next to him. "Why did you join us?" He asked.

    "I need answers." May said. Sarge got her vibe. Talking wasn't her thing. He shut up.

    "Ey! That's 'er!" Pax sat up, "The one who tried 'ta kill us." Jaco growled.

    Sarge glared back, "We're givin' her a second chance, and If any one of you lays a finger on her without my permission, I'll make sure you regret it."

   -:x:-

 

    "That's him?" May asked for clarification.

    "Yeah." Sarge pointed to a man who stood by the bus stop. Holding the scanner, Sarge let May look over his shoulder at the scanner where the victim's chest glowed purple with the outline of the parasite. 

    "So do we just kill him?" May folded her arms.

    "Absolutely  _not_. The victim's already dead. We have to kill the parasite first then kill it again." May nodded. "Move in, Jaco." Sarge ordered, and the seven foot tall man barreled forward and wrestled the victim into an ally where Sarge lead Snowflake and Pax forward, and they cornered the crazy man against a wall.

    May watched as Sarge opened a switchblade with an ornate handle and bluish blade and stabbed the man in the chest. The victim tried to rush forward and wrap his hand around Sarge's neck, but he froze, and May impulsive smacked the hand away from Sarge and Jaco, all of them backing up quick. Suddenly the host's skin broke, pierced by horrific crystalline spikes. May's eyes were wide as she stared, the victim of the parasite seemed to regain semi-consciousness before dying.

    "We need to burn him." Jaco said, seemingly unbothered from the sickening demise before them. "We'll get the knife back."

    "You see, removing the knife will allow the parasite to rapidly heal, and it will simply go on to find another host." Sarge told May, who nodded. Jaco pulled a large assortment of vials from his pack. Snow, Pax, and Sarge immediately turned and started walking away, May following.

    "Come, let Jaco deal with the body. He'll meet us back at the truck." Pax nodded to May.

    "Where are we going?" May asked, and Sarge pointed to the Falafel joint across the way. "Food," Sarge nodded, "We're running low."

    "Are you raiding or paying?" Melinda rolled her eyes. "We can't have my face all over the news if you want to get very far."

    "And you know how to pay around here?" Pax rolled his eyes, and the rest of the group gave him a look, "Oh yeah, forgot you were a terrien."

    "You got currency?" Sarge asked May.

    "Not with me at the moment." May told him.

    "Will this work?" Sarge asked, pulling a wad of green paper from his pocket.

    "Yes."

    -:x:-

 

    After buying supper for the group and convincing the extraterrestrial team to go to a local store to get food stock instead of raiding the restaurant, Melinda folded her arms. Once back at the truck, May had watched Jaco inhale about seven gyros before she observed their evening routines. Jaco seemed to be smoking something, and Snowflake was cleaning her knives while Pax worked on some do-dad.

    Sarge was simply watching Melinda. 

    May sighed, pushing herself forward off the wall she had been leaning on as she strode over toward the couch. 

    "Wait." Sarge softly said. Melinda winced at the memories that his voice brought to her consciousness. "I have something for you."

    May followed, and Sarge pulled her behind a rack. He dug around until he lifted something long and narrow wrapped in grimy cloth. "This will be yours eventually." Sarge unwrapped a gladius style sword, notches in the blade near an ornate hilt. The actual edge seemed sharp.

    "This is made with godslayer metal and the same stuff our daggers are made of. It's the only metal that actually kills and harms the parasites and keeps 'em from healing."

    "Impressive." May reached a hand to the hilt, but Sarge wrapped it back up. 

    "You'll have to prove yourself first, so that I know you won't slit our necks tonight."

    "I saved your life earlier." May reminded him.

    "With the victim today? You just hit his hand." 

    "-Away from your throat. What if a crystal had stabbed you?" May snarked.

    "You'll have to try harder next time." Sarge said, leading her out of the niche, and back to the view of everyone. 

    "It'll be so nice to have another lady around." Snow smiled sweetly, "Eh, May,  you can have Tinker's old bed."

    "That's no place for any decent lady." Sarge said, "Not with Tinker's midnight self therapy." The people around them snorted. May understood. Gross.  

    "You goin' sweet on the terrin, Sarge?" Pax teased. Sarge glared. Melinda noticed that he didn't deny it though.

    "You can have my bed." Sarge offered May.

    "That's the most direct thing I've ever heard you say, Sarge." Jaco shook his head, "No wonder you told us to keep our hands off. You wanted _your_ hands on the terrin."

    "I'll sleep on the couch." May compromised.

    "Someone put a towel down incase Sarge here gets cuddly." Snowflake stage-whispered. Melinda frowned. How dare they talk as if she were a sex toy. If anyone tried, they'd be dead in three seconds max.

    "I said, no one touches the terrin." Sarge ordered.

    "Sure, man."

    -:x:-

 

    It took almost two weeks, forty seven dead parasites, and three police car chases to gain Sarge and the team's trust. (By then she had bought herself a hammock and slept beneath Snowflake)

    Sarge had pulled her aside one evening, and turned around briefly to pick up the warped sword. He held it out with a hard smile. May lifted the finely crafted blade. It was well balanced, a good weight that fighting with it wouldn't be to exausing, but heavy enough that it could cause some real brute damage.

    He had handed her the sheith, which she happily strapped to her belt. (Oh yeah, she forgot to mention that her outfit had changed).

    _"She_  gets the sword?!?!" Pax interrupted almost disappointedly. "That's one of our best weapons!"

    "I think we can trust her." Sarge said. It was true. He had checked. May had no close ties to anyone here on Earth that he knew of, and she had been particularly keen on keeping them from dying or being taken in by SHIELD, when she seemed strained when she talked to the SHIELD agents whenever they met up.  But if she were to kill them or turn them in, she would have done it a long time ago.

    "Anyway, I'm sending Pax and Snowflake to go and check the grid." Sarge said.

    "Oh, getting everyone out of here so that you can corner the terrin?" Pax mumbled. (He hadn't dropped that annoying nickname. May knew she was a human from Earth)

    "No. I'm going to help her find her new name." Sarge said, folding his arms and leaning back.

    "Fine, whatever boss." Pax was dragged out by the ear, Snowflake done with his arguing.

    Sarge came closer, studying Melinda. His eyes traveled over her, taking in the leather jacket and Black cut shirt. "You know by now that I didn't save you only for your skill."

    Melinda raised an eyebrow. If he even dared-

    "You had a special spark. A word that made me freeze. That word was 'Coulson'. I may bot be him, but I think I can read people just as well." Sarge paused, "You've always struck me as a  _'Quasar'_ , what do you think?"

    "Is this supposed to be some kind of ceremony or something?" May smirked.

    "Not really. I just think you should take on your new name."

    "Is there something I'm supposed to do now that you got us alone?"

    "No.  _Quasar_ , Do you like the name?"

    "You don't like  _Melinda May_?" May folded her arms.

    Sarge stared at her, slowly blinking. "That's your full name?"

    " _Melinda Qiaolian May_." She nodded. 

    Sarge tipped his head, "That's quite the mouthful, Melindaqiaolianmay."

    "It's  _three words_." May realized that he did not understand the concept of first, middle, and last names. "Melinda. Qiaolian. May." She corrected, "Maybe we should stick to  _May_."

    "I can do May."

    "I'm sure you can."

    "Wait what?"

    "What?" May quirked.

    "What did you just say?" Sarge whispered, stepping closer.

    "That you can call me  _May_." Melinda shrugged.

    "As much as I like that, You will need a new name in case some of these parasites escape and we go through on to another world." Sarge said. "And I still like the name  _Quasar._ "

    "Fine."

    Suddenly, Melinda's phone buzzed. Pulling out the device, she pressed the audio received notification. "Hello Agent May, Agents Johnson, Piper, Davis, Simmons, and Fitz have returned. Agent Johnson wishes to meet up." Mack's voice came through the communication device.

-:x:-

 

    (Daisy's POV)

    "Holy crap, May." Daisy jumps out of the SUV that the agent had driven solo out to meet May, who had given her coordinates to where she and Sarge's team were. The sand and dust of the desert-ish place around them burned in Daisy's nostrils and she ran toward the singular massive Semi parked. The back opened, and the inhuman immediately recognized May.

    The older woman wore a blue leather jacket and a thick leather belt that brought in the waist, a large sword strapped to it. She wore strange leggings with slanted cuts that showed some of the skin of her thighs in arrow-like shapes pointing up, with really tall laced up boots.

    "Daisy." May greeted, hugging the inhuman.

    "Where is he?" Daisy looked over May's shoulder.

    "Who?"

    "Fake-Coulson." Daisy answered sharply.

    "His name is Sarge." May said. 

    "It doesn't matter what his name is. He looks like Coulson!" Daisy waved her hands.

    "But he isn't, Daisy. He isn't Coulson." May softly assured, placing a hand on Daisy's frantic wrist.

    "Why does he look-"

    "I don't know, and neither does he. Sarge may not be entirely innocent, but it isn't his fault." Melinda said.

    "But what if, what happened to-" Daisy trailed off, and Melinda winced. Her heart constricted in her chest, memories of limp bodies and cold floors flashing past. A heart that is broken is a heart that has been loved. She had loved Phil for so long. . .  

    "I was there with Phil until the very end. I don't want you questioning that too." May said softly.

    "So you're the infamous Quake." Sarge whispered, suddenly there behind May.

    Daisy raised her hand to quake him, but May reached out and physically lowered her arm. "Don't harm him, Daisy."

    "Yeah, I am Quake. What does that mean to you?" Daisy glared.

    "Intergalactic business has seen your name. I hope to know that I am not in your bad graces yet I will not be your friend." Sarge nodded.

   "Sure, whatever." Daisy shrugged, still glaring at Sarge but talking at Melinda, "Listen May, I don't-"

   "Her name is Quasar now." Sarge frowned, putting a hand over May.

   "Shut up, imposter." Daisy shot back.

   "Both of you, stop arguing. We all know that you hate each other, okay?" May

   "-I don't know what you're thinking May,  but you can't go with them. It's wrong! The man that is in there is not the man that you loved!"

   "I know, Daisy. But we're saving lives."

   "You can't just-" Daisy pushed away the tears. May suddenly wrapped her arms around her. Tight. Daisy sank into the hug, and when she tried to back off because May probably was uncomfortable now, to her shock, May squeezed her tighter. "Are you-"

   "I'm so proud of you. Don't forget that." May held her then by the shoulders, looking at the younger woman's face.

   Suddenly Daisy panicked. "Wait, is this  _goodbye_?!? Wait!" 

   "We're saving lives, Daisy." May said again, letting go as she wiped one tear away.

   "Wait! You can't! No! May! Mom! Melinda May! Wait you can't just-!"

   "We're saving lives, Daisy." May nodded, and turned, referencing for her to leave as well. May turned her back to Daisy, walking beside Sarge back to the truck. Daisy was left to stare until she finally realized that yelling was useless and she returned to Elena in the car.

   "I can't believe this! It's just not like May to just move on from Coulson, no matter how this look-a-like makes her feel!!!" Daisy said as she got back into the SUV, tears pouring down her face. "She even has a new name! She's calling herself  _'Quasar'_ or some crap like that! Has May gone mad?!?!"

   "Well, I can assure you that for the first week, all May wanted to do was kill Sarge." Yo-yo informed her fellow inhuman, watching the truck too, as if expecting May to come running back out, ready to go home.

   "I just don't like this, with May going with them. What would Coulson think?"

   "I thought you said you were happy to hear that May had started to move on." Yo-yo curtly said.

   "Yeah, until I saw all of the smoldering  sexy looks May was shooting Sarge." Daisy replied, watching May's form until she was swallowed by the truck's dark trailer, Sarge placing a hand on her back.

-:x:-

 

    (Quasar [May]'s POV)

   "With Pax's tracking devices, only four parasites escaped. We already have the coordinates locked in for the planet of Akinowa." Sarge said.

   "So we're almost done?" Jaco sighed.

    "We should be. The terrin got more P-E-G's, right?"

    "Already way ahead of you." Quasar nodded with a smile, dropping a marble bag filled to the brim with Quartz, Crystal, and Salt.

    "Good. That should last us over twenty jumps." Pax replied, weighing the bag in his hand.

    "We'll go make more butterflies. . ." Snowflake said dreamily.

    "They don't always reincarnate into butterflies, Snow." Sarge rolled his eyes.

    "But they are so pretty." Snow sang.

    "We'll be ready to send trailblazers by morning. Be ready for a bumpy ride. Akinowa has seventeen percent less oxygen and four percent more carbon monoxide, and plenty of chlorine." Sarge read from the screen of his spacetablet, "The surface isn't friendly to humanoids, so Quasar, you'll need to stay close."

    "You just want to keep her close so that you can stare at her behind some more." Pax muttered.

    "Meals will be rationed as usual, and we'll be off Earth by the next rotation." Sarge finished, and immediately the others collapsed into their hammocks. Sarge touched Quasar's arm, pulling her aside.

    "Can I help you?" Quasar reached out and touched Sarge.

    "We both want something from each other." Sarge softly said. "You want answers, and I want your skills." 

    Quasar smiled and pulled out the tiny vial of centipede serum, "This wasn't too hard to extract from Daisy when I hugged her, using your tech."

    "Looks like we're in agreement then."

    "Then let's go to bed. It'll be'a real long day tomorrow. . ."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I. SHIP. PHILINDA. FOR. ONCE. AND. FOR. ALL. I low-key like #Sarinda, but I don't think it should or will become canon. Philinda is my OTP and WILL STAY THAT WAY. Yes, this is a Philinda themed account, but let me take some liberties here. This chapter is written in spite of some hatred I've been receiving online for jokingly proposing the Sarge/Melinda ship name, "Sarinda". It stuck, and now is used in the fandom as a ship, to which I agree full-heartedly. What I do not support is people telling me that Sarinda shippers should be sentenced to death by electric chair, are dumber than ten-year-olds, or are fake-fans. If you ship Sarinda as well, (I know you're out there, I've talked to such shippers and am comfortable with it, ya'll are great!) THIS IS A SAFE PLACE. I will not tolerate haters. Ship what you want, I will not argue with you unless you get rude. I will, however, happily discuss why I do or do not agree with you.
> 
> Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
> 
> -nightsisterkaris


End file.
